First attempt at carving (Pic)

[borderline]

My first attempt at carving and first attempt at uploading picture. This was done with a single 1/4 inch bench chisel in mahagony. The picture is not great and makes it look worse than it really is.

Thanks for looking.

Chuck

[Ashbys]

Well Done! excellent first attempt!

I will make a suggestion, for your next one. If you don't mind. To make it stand out a bit more use a little undercutting along your edges. This will add shadows to the edges giving it a more increased depth look to it.

Again well done!
Ash

[Colin-Partridge]

Nothing wrong with that for a first carving very well done we look forward to seeing your progress.
Colin

[borderline]

Thanks for the nice comments and suggestion. I actually attempted undercutting in several areas (This is high relief correct?) but the carving was so shallow to begin with, the undercutting didn't turn out very well. Another mistake was using high gloss shellac for the finish. Learned alot, now I have to figure out what tools to buy to move on. I talked with Rick at little shavers but I am still lost as to what tools I should look into as I want to do the majority of my carving in harder woods.


Chuck

[squbrigg]

Well done Chuck. You will learn with each carving you do. Hold on to that one, so you can compare your progress in 20 years or so. Well done and happy carving.

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

You might want to start with Ricks "beginner Kit" and if he gave you specific ideas, you would be wise to follow the suggestions....

[borderline]

Actually Rick sugested to NOT use his starter kit (I love that kind of honesty) and gave me a contact to someone else that might be able to help me out more. I have not yet heard back from this other person, so I will give it until next week and talk to Rick again. I am sure, from reading post on this forum, that Rick will be able to get me started one way or the other. I just want to get in the game, but I don't want to start with the wrong tools.

Thanks
Chuck

[rick-in-seattle]

Chuck,
I am pleased that you contacted Charley, she is an outstanding carver and instructor. She used to live in Washington, but moved to Texas when her husband was reassigned at work.

If anyone would like to see some of her beautiful carving:
http://www.charleyphillips.com/pages/1/index.htm
(Be sure to view her current project)

I didn't think the beginners kit would provide adequate sweeps for the projects Chuck described as being interested in. So I suggested talking with my good friend Charley to determine exactly what he should purchase for this style of carving.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Geez Rick! How come I have never heard of her? And how come she isn't on here so we can pick her brain? LOL, she does some terrific work!! Cowboy

[borderline]

Thanks Rick, I didn't post her information (Even though I wanted to because her work is AMAZING) as I didn't know if you would want me too. I can tell by her work that she must be very busy so I understand that she may take awhile to get back to me. Even if she dosn't reply, I understand. I am thinking that I may have to start with some tools to get a feel for it, then purchase different tools to see what works. I enjoyed my first attempt so much that I believe it is worth the "experimentation" to find the tools that work for me.

I hope to hear from Charley to get her advice, I Figure with a name like Charley I can't go wrongTalking, but either way I will be giving you a call in short order to get started with something.

Thanks
Chuck